JP3885058B2 - Plant growth analysis system and analysis method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a system for analyzing changes in appearance during the process of plant growth.

  Conventionally, in gene function analysis of plants, changes in the genetic information of interest in the gene sequence are changed by changing environmental conditions (for example, sunshine duration), observing the growth, and changing the form during the growth process The functional analysis of genes, such as measuring differences in leaves, the leaves and the overall shape of plants after growth, and differences in colors such as leaves and roots, and identifying the function of the genes from the results, is being promoted.

  In recent years, enormous genetic information of plants has been elucidated, and functional analysis on the enormous gene information obtained has been advanced. For this purpose, it is necessary to comprehensively measure all the growth processes, including small changes that are difficult for the human eye to discern, in terms of shape and color differences and changes in the growth process. It is important.

  Conventionally, in the measurement of the growth process, the observation of the growth process when the genetic information and environmental conditions are changed is carried out by measuring work at regular intervals, for example, once a day or once every several days. . In the case of manual measurement, a growth memory is carried out for a portion to be observed that is easy to quantify, such as the length of a root, the size of a leaf, and the angle of growth. At that time, measurement is performed at long intervals such as one day or more, and a measurement method focusing on a large change is performed. In fact, research by experiments using these methods is underway, and the results are published in the form of papers and presentations at academic conferences.

  As a method for automatically storing growth, there is an image monitoring device using a camera. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-138041 proposes an apparatus for monitoring the quality of plant growth. In this apparatus, the state of seedling growth is captured as an image using a camera, the captured image is evaluated, and the quality of the growth state is automatically determined.

  As an automatic storage device using a camera, there is a field for monitoring a suspicious person or a suspicious object, although the target field of photographing is different. In this monitoring field, for the purpose of determining suspicious persons and suspicious objects, images are captured using a camera at regular intervals or continuously in the area to be monitored, and several images with adjacent capture times are captured. It has been proposed as a device that evaluates difference information between them by image processing and issues a warning when there is a change.

  There exists patent document 2 (Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 11-110530) as a proposal of a monitoring apparatus. In this method, changes between images captured in time series are evaluated, and the storage interval of images is dynamically changed based on the evaluation value to reduce the storage capacity of images. In such a monitoring device, the image to be processed for evaluating the shape change evaluates two or several images before and after the capture time, and uses the captured image in a relatively short time such as several hours or several minutes. It is unlikely to be affected by changes in the angle of the subject due to camera operating errors, the table that holds the camera, or the vibration of the device itself.

  In the growth monitoring apparatus of the above-mentioned patent document 1, it is proposed that the growth process of a plant that is known in advance is compared to determine whether the growth state is good or bad compared to the growth state that is known in advance.

  Further, Non-Patent Documents 1-5 propose an apparatus that conveys a container for growing a plant body, and sequentially takes out images before the camera.

  Furthermore, in patent document 3 (Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2003-50996), the mark for position detection is attached to the container which grows a plant body when image | photographing, the mark position in the image | photographed image is detected, and its physical position It is proposed to correct the image based on the above.

JP-A-6-138041

JP-A-11-110530 JP 2003-50996 A Conference presentation: Tanabata, T., Ishizuka, T., Takano, M., Shinomura, T., The rice growth monitoring system for the phenotypic functional analysis, The 10th International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology, Edmonton, Canada, proceedigns p.67, August 3-7, 2002 Journal commentary: Takaya Tanabata, Toru Ishizuka, Tomoko Shinomura, Image processing system in gene function analysis, IEICE Journal, 86: 945-948, 2003. Conference presentation: Toru Ishizuka, Takaya Tanabata, Tomoko Shinomura, Development of Automatic Monitoring System for Rice Growth, The 26th Annual Meeting of the Molecular Biology Society of Japan, Program and Presentations, p. 1011, 2003. Conference presentation: Ishizuka T, Tanabata T, and Shinomura T, Rice growth imaging system for phenotypic functional analysis from middle seedling to mature plant, Proceedings of International Genetic Resources Workshop on the Genus Oryza. Pp. 81-83, 2003. Web published article: Tanabata T., Ishizuka T., Shinomura T., The Rice Growth Monitoring System for The Phenotypic Functional Analysis, http://www.gs.dna.affrc.go.jp/SY-1108/, 2003 / 08/16.

  In order to obtain all the information on the growth process of plants, there is a possibility that a small difference or change in the growth process of plants may be overlooked by the conventional observation method by a human. In addition, it is very time consuming to perform functional analysis on a large amount of genetic information if the work is mainly manual, and the labor cost for the analysis is also enormous.

  As a solution to these problems, an image acquisition device using a camera has been proposed, and a method of storing growth using the image acquisition device and measuring the shape in the growth process based on the collected images is proposed. Has been.

  In the growth monitoring device of Patent Document 1, it is only possible to determine whether the growth state is good or bad, and it is impossible to acquire information about where the growth state is bad.

  In the present invention, it is possible to provide an optimal shooting environment in shooting of growth images of a plurality of plants. On the other hand, when carrying out observation of plants such as rice whose shape changes greatly with growth in the plant transport mechanism, the operation of the transport mechanism is constant, so that the cultivation period is shifted and observed. If a large sample or a small sample is transported at one time, it is necessary to perform a transport operation according to the large shape sample so that the plants do not overlap. The size becomes large, and the space of the transport mechanism is wasted.

  This is also true when observing a plant whose growth is completely unknown when analyzing an unknown gene function, and when the plant is grown, the plant is extremely larger than expected. If it grows large, the transport operation will continue at the expected value until the person confirms the situation, so it is necessary for the person to check the situation and change the transport operation to obtain an optimal image. Come. Therefore, complete automation of the image acquisition device for growth analysis is difficult with these methods.

  In order to analyze the growth process of plants, it is necessary to acquire images of the growth processes of many plants and to compare the acquired growth images of various plants. An important point for comparison is that factors other than the growth change of the plant body at the time of shooting, for example, to measure the shape, the condition of the physical positional relationship between the camera and the plant body is observed. It is an extremely important item to keep the measurement accuracy at a high level that it is always constant during the period.

  In response to this problem, in the present invention, a measurement error factor associated with a deviation in the physical positional relationship between the camera and the plant caused by an error in the operation of the transfer mechanism that occurs during the operation of the transfer mechanism has been acquired. This is achieved by correcting the positional relationship between the images using the image, thereby improving the measurement accuracy. The growth monitoring device of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 can be realized by processing only acquired images. However, when considering application to gene analysis, it is necessary to acquire a very large amount of plant images and acquire a large number of images. It is necessary to perform image acquisition using an apparatus. In such a case, when performing accurate comparison with other samples for growth analysis, in order to strictly align the camera and plant between images, the operation at the time of image acquisition is performed with high accuracy. This is very important.

  The object of the present invention is to change the growth process based on the passage of time of organisms including plants, for a long period of time from several weeks to several months, which becomes difficult by conventional manual measurement or application of a simple monitoring device. We provide a plant growth analysis system with an image acquisition device for gene function analysis that can stably store the growth process of plants as image information up to minute changes, and efficiently perform growth analysis using acquired images It is to provide an analysis method for performing.

  In the plant growth analysis system of the present invention, an operation detecting means for a mechanism for conveying a number of observation objects so as to repeatedly pass in front of the camera, and a means for detecting an operation error of the conveying mechanism using an image acquired by the camera And transport control means that can correct the operation by reflecting the detected error amount of the transport mechanism to the transport mechanism, store the growth process of the plant over a long period in the image information, and measure the growth shape change It is characterized by being executed with high accuracy.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to acquire an image capable of performing various measurements such as a size and a color with respect to a time-series shape change based on a time course of organisms including plants over a long period of time with a high accuracy level. It becomes possible.

  Furthermore, it is possible to provide a method for efficient analysis of acquired images, and to provide a technique for analysis including minute changes in the genetic function analysis of organisms.

  In addition, when acquiring images, it is possible to efficiently acquire a large amount of growth images even for organisms with various sizes of observation targets.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In Example 1, the application to a small plant body in which the plant to be observed grows in a test tube will be described. In Example 2, the application to a plant body in which the plant to be observed grows to 1 m or more will be described.

Example 1
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing functional blocks of the system of the present invention.

  The plant growth analysis system of the present invention includes an image acquisition device control unit 1, an image reading unit 5 for acquiring an image, an image reading unit control unit 6, a light irradiation unit 7 for use as illumination during photographing, and a light irradiation unit. An image of a growth process composed of a control unit 8, a transport mechanism 9 for transporting a plurality of plants, a transport mechanism control unit 10, and a transport mechanism movement amount detection unit 11 for monitoring a transport state is displayed for a long time. In order to compare the changes in the growth of various plants using the acquired image and the image acquisition device 100 for acquiring the image, the change in the shape of the acquired image is visualized and the amount of change in the shape is measured. An image analysis processing unit 201 for processing, an image display control unit 202 for processing the analysis results into data for display on the display device 4, an analysis result storage unit 3 for storing the analysis results, and a table of analysis results Constituted by an image analysis unit which is a display device 4 such as a display or printer for.

  The image acquisition device control unit 1 includes an image acquisition operation management unit 101, an image temporary storage unit 104, an image processing unit 105, an image information storage unit 106, a data processing unit 102, and a transport operation data storage unit 103. The image acquisition operation management unit 101 gives control signals to the image reading unit control unit 6, the light irradiation unit control unit 8, and the transport mechanism control unit 10, based on a signal given from the data processing unit 102. The image signal acquired by the image reading unit 5 is stored in the image temporary storage unit 104 and processed by the image processing unit 105. The signal of the image processing unit 105 is given to the data processing unit 102 and is also sent to the above-described image analysis processing unit 201 via the image information storage unit 106 and analyzed according to a predetermined analysis program. Further, a signal obtained from the transport mechanism movement amount detection unit 11 is sent to the data processing unit 102. The data processing unit 102 is connected to the conveyance operation data storage unit 103 and stores the operation state of the conveyance mechanism, and also according to a program signal to be given to the conveyance mechanism control unit 10 and a signal obtained from the conveyance mechanism movement amount detection unit 11. Then, a signal to the transport mechanism control unit 10 is sent to the image acquisition operation management unit 101.

  With the configuration of such an image acquisition device and an image analysis unit, it is possible to acquire and analyze the change in growth in the growth process of a large amount of plants and the difference in growth for each plant in an image and display the result. Each operation will be described sequentially.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a method of plant growth analysis using the system of the present invention.

  First, seeds and buds of a plant body whose growth is to be analyzed are sown in a cultivation container for cultivating plants (S001). In the present system, as will be described later, the transport mechanism control unit 10 automatically controls the transport amount so that the optimal shooting can be always realized in accordance with the size of the container, so there is no limit on the size of the container. The point is a feature. Next, the cultivation container is attached to the transport mechanism 9 (S002). When the attachment is completed, the image acquisition apparatus 100 is activated (S003). When the preparation is completed, first, a test operation of the transport mechanism 9 is performed to check the container attachment state (S004). Although this test operation and check can be realized manually, a pre-defined check operation is executed, and the operation state between them is determined by a signal from the transport mechanism movement amount detection unit 11 and a signal from the image processing unit 105. By using and monitoring, it is possible to automate the installation check. After the attachment check (S004), the attachment state is determined (S006). If the attachment is incomplete, the attachment state is rechecked (S005), the attachment check (S004) is performed again, and the process is repeated until the attachment is completed. .

  After the attachment determination (S006) is completed, an operation for starting image acquisition is performed (S007). After the start of image acquisition, plant images are acquired at regular intervals. The image acquisition interval can be specified in advance, such as once every few minutes or once every several hours, and can be freely changed according to the purpose of the growth analysis. During the image acquisition period, the growth status of the plant individual is checked once a day or once a week (S008), and the end of image acquisition is determined (S009). This growth state check is performed by automatically determining that a plant individual is full by a method of checking and judging an image acquired by a human or a signal from the image processing unit 105 based on the acquired image. It can also be.

  By performing automatic determination using the signal of the image processing unit 105, it is possible to realize complete automation of image acquisition and to obtain efficient image acquisition. After determining the end of image acquisition, an end operation (S010) is performed, and growth analysis is performed using the acquired image (S011). With the above work flow, it is possible to efficiently carry out the processing from the acquisition of the growth image of the plant body to the growth analysis using the acquired image.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of an embodiment of the system of the present invention.

  The conveyance mechanism 9 will be described in detail later, but a large number of cultivation containers 13 are attached to the ring 12 and are rotationally controlled by the conveyance control unit 10. These cultivation containers 13 are temporarily stopped in front of a camera 15 that houses an image reading unit 5 (not shown) and an image reading unit control unit 6 (not shown), and reads an image. Is done. In each of the cultivation containers 13, only one cultivation container 13 is representatively shown in the figure, but a position detection mark 14 described later is fixed at a predetermined position. The reading of the image is performed not only with the plant to be observed but also with the position detection mark 14 as one body. At this time, the light irradiation means 7 is provided on the upper part as illumination for photographing. As in this embodiment, by installing the illumination light irradiation means 7 on the upper portion, there is an effect that reflection of an image of reflected light generated by the material of the cultivation container 13 can be reduced. The display device 4 that displays the acquired image and the analysis result is connected to the personal computer 16.

  In this embodiment, the software on the personal computer 16 implements the image acquisition device control unit 1, the image analysis unit 2, and the analysis result storage unit 3 that perform transport mechanism control and image reading unit control. Since it can be realized by software processing in this way, the apparatus configuration is simplified and the system can be flexibly modified.

  4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating an outline of processing performed by the image acquisition device control unit 1.

  FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an operation flow of the image acquisition device control unit according to the first embodiment. When the user performs an image acquisition start button operation (S101) after the operation is started, a display for setting an experimental condition (image acquisition condition) by the user is performed (S102). This condition relates to an image acquisition operation such as an acquisition time interval in which image acquisition is performed once every few minutes and the number of plants attached to the transport mechanism. After the condition input (S102), the device initialization processing operation (S103) such as the return of the operation initial position of the device is performed, and the image acquisition operation (S104) is started. During this image acquisition operation, the plant image is acquired according to the time schedule specified at the time of condition input (S102). If the end of image acquisition is determined, an end operation is performed (S106), and image acquisition ends.

  FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the operation panel of the image acquisition device control unit 1 according to the first embodiment. In this example, an embodiment using software on the personal computer 16 is shown. The display screen 1000 of the operation panel includes optional transport mechanism operations such as a test operation in addition to the operation buttons 1002 for starting, interrupting, and ending the image acquisition operation. Further, an image acquisition state display screen 1001 for displaying the state of image acquisition such as the number of times the image has been taken and the shooting time, a lamp 1003 that indicates a warning when an abnormality occurs in the transport mechanism or the camera, or an operation status display 1004 of the transport mechanism or camera The device status display screen is provided.

  5A and 5B are explanatory diagrams of the image acquisition operation management unit 101. FIG.

  FIG. 5A is a functional block diagram of the image acquisition operation management unit 101 according to the first embodiment. The image acquisition operation management unit 101 is a functional block that implements the operation in the image acquisition operation (S104). An external device control interface unit 1010 for instructing control of apparatuses controlled by the system such as the transport mechanism control unit 10 and the image reading unit control unit 6, and an image acquisition parameter storage unit 1013 for managing image acquisition time. A timer 1012 for performing time monitoring, a control amount acquisition unit 1015 for acquiring a control amount of a device such as a transport mechanism from the data processing unit 102, and a sequence for storing a sequence of transport operation and image acquisition sequence operation An operation order storage unit 1014 and a sequence operation processing unit 1011 that sequentially sends operation signals to an external device in accordance with a sequence operation procedure and executes an image acquisition operation.

  FIG. 5B is a diagram illustrating an example of the data table 1016 stored in the sequence operation order storage unit 1014 according to the first embodiment. As shown in the table 1016, the conveyance and image acquisition operations necessary for image acquisition are attached to the system, such as control of a drive unit such as a motor attached to the conveyance mechanism, the number of attached cultivation containers, and illumination control for photographing. The operation order of all the devices is stored in order. When a change occurs in the configuration of the transport mechanism or the number of cultivation containers due to the configuration having the storage unit 1014, the sequence operation can be changed simply by rewriting the content of the storage unit, so the device configuration can be easily changed. There is an effect of becoming.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a processing operation flow of the image acquisition operation management unit 101 according to the first embodiment.

  After the image acquisition operation is started, it is checked whether there is an instruction to end the operation at the start of the shooting operation (S201). If there is an instruction to end the operation (S202), the shooting operation is ended. The operation end instruction is performed by sending an operation end signal to the image acquisition operation management unit 101 when the user performs an end operation (depressing the experiment end button) on the operation panel (see FIG. 4B). Next, the time is checked (S203), and if it is the image acquisition time (S204), the image acquisition sequence operation is started (S205). In the sequence operation, in accordance with the sequence operation order storage unit 1014, the sequence operation processing unit sequentially issues an operation instruction to the external device. Accordingly, the sequence operation order is referred to (S206), the control device to be controlled is selected (S207), and the control amount of the device is acquired from the control amount acquisition unit 1015 (S208). The acquired control amount is output to the target device through the external device control interface 1010 (S209), and the apparatus is operated. After the operation signal of the apparatus is output, the apparatus waits until the operation of the apparatus is completed (S210), and then reads the next sequence operation order (S211). If there is a next sequence operation, the operation is performed again (S27). If the sequence is completed, the operation waits until the next image acquisition operation time (S201).

  7A and 7B are diagrams illustrating details of the correction processing operation and the photographing operation of the conveyance control in the image acquisition operation of the first embodiment.

  FIG. 7A is a diagram illustrating a processing flow of the operation of the imaging sequence according to the first embodiment.

  In accordance with the stored contents of the sequence operation order storage unit 1014, the transport mechanism 9 is operated to move the cultivation container 13 to the image reading position of the camera 15 incorporating the image reading unit 5 (S301). The transported amount is acquired by the transport movement amount detection unit 11 (S302), and an image is acquired (S303). The image processing unit 105 detects the position detection mark 14 added to the cultivation container 13 in the acquired image, and specifies the coordinate position of the mark 14 (S304). The detected coordinate position data is processed by the data processing unit 102 (S305). The data processing unit 102 determines whether or not the transport position is at a normal position (S306). When the determination result is NG, a deviation from the normal position is obtained, a conveyance amount correction value necessary for conveyance to the normal position is calculated (S307), the conveyance mechanism 9 is operated according to the calculated correction amount, and cultivation is performed. The container 13 is moved (S308). This operation is repeated until the transport position stops at the normal position, and an image of the cultivation container 13 is acquired each time (S303).

  After it is determined that the cultivation container 13 has been transported to the normal position, information such as the image acquisition date and time is added to the image captured immediately before being stored in the temporary storage unit 104 and stored in the image information storage unit 106 ( S309). By such a method, it is possible to acquire an image that maintains the physical positional relationship between the camera and the cultivation container with high accuracy due to an operation error at the time of the conveyance operation, which has been a problem when using the conveyance mechanism, and There is an effect that the measurement can be realized with high accuracy.

  FIG. 7B is a diagram illustrating a processing flow of the image acquisition operation according to the first embodiment.

  In the image acquisition operation, there is a phenomenon such as the cultivation container 13 shaking after the conveyance, so that the standby for about several seconds is performed after the conveyance (S311). Based on the imaging parameters, lighting on / off control is performed (S312), and an image is read (S313). The read image data is transferred and stored in the temporary storage unit 104 (S314).

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the transport mechanism 9 and the transport mechanism operation amount detection unit 11 according to the first embodiment.

  In the first embodiment, the transport mechanism 9 is an embodiment in which means for attaching a plurality of cultivation containers 13 to a ring-shaped table 12 that rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure is provided. The ring-shaped table 12 that conveys the cultivation container 13 is configured to rotate by a pulse motor 90, a gear box 91, and a rotating shaft 92. The rotation operation can be controlled by the number of rotations of the pulse motor 90 that responds to the pulse signal given from the transport mechanism control unit 10. In this configuration, there is an advantage that the control amount of the motor and the rotation angle of the table can be easily associated with each other, and control is easy. Further, a direct drive motor can be used in place of the pulse motor 90. At this time, the table can be directly conveyed, and the gear book 91 is not required. Also in this case, like the pulse motor, the conveyance control can be controlled by the number of rotations of the motor.

  In order to detect the amount of movement of the table 12 of the transport mechanism 9, a detection piece 11a for detecting the amount of rotation and a corresponding position detection sensor 11b are provided at the end surface position of the table 12. Although only one detection piece 11a is shown in the drawing, a large number of detection pieces 11a are provided at equal intervals in order to increase the resolution of detection of the rotation amount of the table 12. Since the position detection sensor 11b outputs a pulse output corresponding to the passage of the detection piece 11a, the amount of rotation of the table 12 can be easily detected by counting the pulse output. A detection mark 14 for detecting the amount of position movement from the acquired image is attached to the cultivation container 13. In FIG. 3, the detection marks 14 are attached to the top and bottom of the cultivation container 13, but one may be used. The data of the movement amount acquired from the position detection sensor 11b or the image is sent to the data processing unit 102 and used for rotation control of the table 12 and conveyance amount correction control. In addition, when an operation abnormality occurs, it is also effective in identifying the cause such as whether the cause of the abnormality is a motor or a table.

  9A to 9C are diagrams illustrating an example of the method for fixing the cultivation container 13 and the method for attaching the position detection mark 14 according to the first embodiment.

  FIG. 9A is a view of the ring table 12 that fixes the cultivation container 13 of Example 1 as viewed from above. The table 12 for fixing the cultivation container 13 is a circular ring table made of a thick material. A hole having a size that allows the main body of the cultivation container 13 to pass through is formed in the peripheral piece of the ring table 12, and the cultivation container 13 is dropped into the hole. A holding portion 94 that is thicker than the main body portion of the cultivation container 13 is formed at the upper end portion of the cultivation container 13 and cannot pass through a hole through which the main body portion of the cultivation container 13 can penetrate. For this reason, the cultivation container 13 is held on the ring table 12. The ring table 12 is provided with a beam 99 that intersects with a cross passing through the center, and is fixed to a drive shaft 92 for rotating the table at the intersection. Accordingly, the rotational movement of the transport motor rotates the table 12 through the shaft 92.

  FIG. 9B is a diagram showing the relationship between the ring table 12 and the cultivation container 13 in Example 1. In this example, the table 12 has a two-stage configuration. Since the holding part 94 of the cultivation container 13 is thicker than the main body part, the cultivation container 13 is held so as to hang from the ring table 12. At that time, although not shown in the drawing, the structure is such that the hole of the upper ring table 12 and the holding portion 94 are engaged so that the relative rotation between the cultivation container 13 and the ring table 12 does not occur. Is good. Even if the table 12 is ring-shaped, it is desirable to use a material that does not block light that is important in plant cultivation, such as acrylic. If the table is flat, it is essential to use a material that does not block light. When the table 12 has a two-stage configuration, there is an effect that it is possible to prevent the cultivation container 13 from shaking and rotating or vibrating left and right during the transportation operation.

  FIG. 9C is a diagram illustrating the cultivation container 13 and the position detection mark 14 of Example 1 taken out. It is preferable to attach the mark 14 for position detection on the upper and lower sides of the cultivation container 13. As the pattern of the mark 14, a mark that facilitates image processing for position detection is effective. In this embodiment, a mark having a pattern as shown in FIG. 9C is used. The mark for detecting the position of the cultivation container 13 can be detected if there is at least one place, but by attaching two or more places such as the vertical direction of the cultivation container 13 as shown in the figure, It is possible to detect a position error in the rotation direction, which is effective in improving the detection accuracy of the transport position error. Moreover, this mark 14 may be directly attached to a transport mechanism such as the outer peripheral surface of the table 12 in addition to the cultivation container 13 depending on the structure of the apparatus.

  10A to 10C are diagrams illustrating a position detection method using the position detection detection mark according to the first embodiment.

  FIG. 10A shows an example of an image of the cultivation container 13 acquired with the position detection mark 14 of Example 1 attached. The image defines the coordinates of the image with the upper left as the origin. FIG. 10B is a diagram illustrating an image prepared as a template image of the first embodiment, which is an image having the same pattern as the detection mark 14. The image size is prepared according to the detection mark 14 in the acquired image. The position of the template image in the acquired image is detected using the acquired image and the template image. For this detection process, a template matching method generally used in image processing is effective. In template matching, the value of Expression (1) is calculated for all coordinates in the acquired image, and the coordinates of (x, y) when the value is the largest are output as detection results.

Here, h (x, y): evaluation coefficient for mark detection, x, y: coordinate value in image to detect mark, i, j: coordinate value in template image, δ (delta): template image size , W: the width of the image for mark detection, and H: the height of the image for mark detection.

  FIG. 10C is a diagram illustrating an example of a detection result of the position detection mark 14 according to the first embodiment. In this case, there are two marks, and the upper two places of the evaluation coefficient obtained by Expression (1) are calculated as detection results.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating functional blocks of the data processing unit 102 according to the first embodiment.

The mechanism movement amount data detected by the conveyance mechanism movement amount detection unit 11 is input to the conveyance mechanism operation amount calculation unit 1023 via the mechanism movement amount data input unit 1022. On the other hand, the mark position coordinate data detected by the image processing unit 105 is input to the transport mechanism operation amount calculation unit 1023 via the image detection result data input unit 1024 and further stored in the transport mechanism operation amount history temporary storage unit 1025. The Further, the standard operation data amount of the transport mechanism is stored in the transport mechanism standard operation amount storage unit 1026. After the transport operation, based on the mechanism movement amount data detected by the transport mechanism movement amount detection unit 11 and the image detection result, a correction value for the operation amount necessary to stop at the correct transport position is calculated. Calculated in 1023. The calculated result is corrected for the difference from the standard operation data of the transport mechanism, and output to the image acquisition operation management unit 101 through the device control amount output 1020.
When the result of calculating the transport operation amount from the data input from the data input units 1022 and 1024 becomes a value that cannot be transported such as an infinite value, it is determined that the transport operation is abnormal and the operation is performed. Through the abnormality alarm output 1021, the display device 4 displays or warns that an abnormality has occurred. In this case, the operation is naturally locked.

  12A to 12C are diagrams illustrating examples of data detected from the detection unit and the image processing unit according to the first embodiment.

  FIG. 12A is a diagram illustrating an example of a device movement amount data table obtained from the conveyance mechanism movement amount detection unit 11 according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 12A, data such as the date and time of actual operation, the instruction value of the motor instructed at the time of operation, and the table movement amount that the table actually moved as a result are stored. In this way, by using the storage with the correspondence between the instruction amount of conveyance transmitted from the device control amount output 1020 and the actual conveyance amount, the cause of the trouble such as calculation of the correction value of the conveyance amount or the failure of the conveyance is generated. There is an effect that it can be used as information for identification.

  FIG. 12B is a diagram illustrating the center coordinates of the detected mark. The coordinate value indicates a coordinate value in a coordinate system with the origin at the upper left of the image.

  FIG. 12C is a diagram illustrating a time-series displacement amount of the detected coordinates. Based on the coordinate values shown in FIG. 12B, the amount of displacement is determined by equation (2).

Here, i: total number of times since the start of image acquisition of the target image, δi (delta): displacement amount of the i-th image, xi, yi: coordinate values in the target image, x, y0: i = 0 represents the coordinate value of the mark detection result of the image of 0.

  As a result, a time-series change of the image shift due to the operation error of the transport mechanism is obtained as a result as shown in the graph of FIG. 12C. As a result, it is possible to determine whether or not the operation accuracy of the transport mechanism is within an allowable range.

  By storing the operation state as described above, there is an effect that it can be used for detecting an apparatus abnormality and calculating an optimum correction value.

  13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating an example of temporary storage data of the data processing unit 102 according to the first embodiment.

  FIG. 13A is a diagram illustrating an example of a data table in the transport mechanism operation history temporary storage unit 1025 according to the first embodiment. This data is a table in which the data described with reference to FIGS. 12A and 12B is stored in time series order. At that time, all the data in one transport operation, that is, the motor operation amount, the table movement amount, and the mark position detected after the operation are stored.

  FIG. 13B is a diagram illustrating an example of a data table in the transport mechanism standard operation amount storage unit 1026 according to the first embodiment. The data stored here stores the control amount of the transport mechanism of the apparatus and the ideal value of the detection data of the transport result for all the transport operations of the apparatus. Transport is controlled based on this data. Note that this data is determined for each device and must be stored before the operation of the device is started. The transport operation amount is controlled as a standard value by the value in this storage unit, and the detected data after operation is compared with the value in this storage unit. If the values are different, the difference indicates a transport error. It will be.

  It should be noted that the correspondence between the displacement amount and the transport amount that appear as errors in the mark detection position is determined by the operation amount of the drive unit used in the apparatus. This correspondence can also be acquired by performing a test operation (motor operation amount and movement amount and image mark detection operation) at the time of designing the transport mechanism or after pumping up the apparatus.

  14A and 14B are diagrams illustrating examples of data tables of stored data in the image information storage unit 106 and the analysis result storage unit 3 according to the first embodiment.

  FIG. 14A is a diagram illustrating an example of data in the image information storage unit 106 according to the first embodiment. As shown in this table, a serial number (sample No.) is provided for each cultivation container. Manage each. For each acquired image, storing the date and time of image acquisition and the environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, etc.) at that time are effective for information on growth analysis.

  FIG. 14B is a diagram illustrating an example of data in the analysis result storage unit 3 according to the first embodiment. As shown in this table, it is assumed that the analysis data (the length and angle of the target object such as leaves and roots) obtained from the image information stored in FIG. 14A is added. As a result, it is possible to evaluate the growth numerical data while viewing the image by managing the growth image and the analysis data together, and there is an advantage that the analysis work can be performed efficiently.

  15A and 15B are diagrams illustrating an example of processing in the image analysis processing unit 201 in the image analysis unit 2 of Example 1 and functional blocks of the image display control unit 202 that have received the output of the image analysis processing unit 201.

  FIG. 15A is a diagram illustrating a flow of analysis processing by pseudo moving image display using the image sequence acquired in the first embodiment. The pseudo moving image display is a process of arranging the acquired images 20 in time series and sequentially displaying them on the display device as shown in the figure. Thus, by displaying the acquired image as a moving image, a slow change such as a plant can be displayed as a change in change speed that can be recognized by a person, and an effect for analysis of the change can be obtained. FIG. 15B is a diagram illustrating functional blocks of the display control unit 202 that realizes the pseudo moving image according to the first embodiment. The acquired images are sequentially read out by the image reading unit 2025, and the image data are alternately developed in the temporary storage 0th memory 2024 and the temporary storage 1st memory 2023. The developed image data is alternately transferred to the display image memory 2022 and displayed on the display device 4 through the display device interface 2021. By using two temporary image memories in this way, display without flickering is possible. The series of processes described above is performed by the display control unit 2020.

  FIGS. 16A to 16C are diagrams illustrating the growth rate measurement of the image analysis processing unit 201 according to the first embodiment. As another example of the analysis technique using the acquired image sequence, an example of growth rate measurement by detecting the tip is shown.

  FIG. 16A is a diagram illustrating a flow of detection of a tip portion of a plant body of Example 1. As shown in the figure, the growth tip of the plant body is detected for all images acquired from the start of image acquisition. The amount of displacement of the acquired coordinates of the tip from the start of the experiment is calculated using the same arithmetic expression as the above-described expression (2).

  FIG. 16B is a diagram showing a graph display of the detection result of the growth tip of the plant body by the process of FIG. 16A. In this way, quantitative changes in the shape of the growth process can be evaluated by expressing the minute changes in the shape of the growth as continuous numerical data, which is difficult to evaluate with the appearance alone. And the effect that the difference in the growth of a large number of plants can be compared quantitatively is obtained.

  FIG. 16C is a diagram showing an example in which the growth rate of the growth tip of the plant body was compared. This graph shows an example in which the measurement results shown in FIG. 16B are analyzed for two plants. As in this example, it can be read that plant A and plant B, whose final lengths are almost the same, are different in the growth process. Thus, there is an effect that such a result can be obtained from the results of image acquisition and analysis of a plurality of plant bodies.

  FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an automatic check function processing flow of the installation state when the cultivation container is installed as an application operation of the system of the present invention.

  It is important that the cultivation container 13 is firmly installed on the transport mechanism 9 in order to maintain the physical positional accuracy of the camera 15 and the plant to be observed. Therefore, it is desirable to check whether the cultivation container 13 is firmly attached to the transport mechanism 9 at the time of attachment and to confirm that it is properly fixed. The confirmation operation process for that purpose is proposed. The cultivation container is attached (S401), and then an installation confirmation operation sequence is executed (S402). In this operation, it is desirable to make the operation speed higher than usual, repeat the operation / stop, or intentionally shake the operation.

  After performing such an operation, a normal photographing operation is executed n times (n> 1) (S403). The mark coordinates in the captured n images are detected (S404), and the displacement of the coordinate values is obtained (S405). It is determined whether the obtained displacement is within the allowable range for the photographing operation (S405). The allowable range is set according to the measurement accuracy of the target analysis. As a result, if the determination is unsuccessful, the installation state is confirmed again, the check is performed again, and the process is repeated until the determination result passes. As described above, since the installation state is checked using the acquired image, it is possible to check all the operating error factors.

(Example 2)
Until now, although the example by the small plant body which grows in a test tube was described, in fact, the plant body grows to 1 m or more in a big thing. The present invention can be applied to such a plant body analyzing apparatus. In the case of a large plant body, since the amount of change in the shape of growth is large, securing a space for cultivation becomes a problem in order to acquire growth images of a large number of samples.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of a system of Example 2 in which the apparatus of the present invention is applied to a large plant body. The same components as those in FIG. 3 showing the schematic diagram of the system of the second embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals. As is clear by comparing FIG. 18 with FIG. 3, also in Example 2, the cultivation mechanism 13 is conveyed in the conveyance direction as shown by the arrow by the conveyance mechanism 9, and the image is displayed in front of the camera 15. There is no difference in terms of the configuration for obtaining. Reference numeral 30 denotes a plant growing room.

  In FIG. 18, since the cultivation container 13 and the plant are large and heavy, the cultivation container 13 is placed on the table 93 placed on the two transporting mechanisms 9 to be interlocked and transported. It is assumed that the camera 15 can move back and forth on the stage 31 with respect to the table 93. This configuration can be realized in the same manner as a movable stage used in an optical apparatus.

  The conveyance control of the cultivation container 13 in the configuration of FIG. 18 can be performed with the same mechanism as the conveyance mechanism of the cultivation container 13 in the first embodiment. When the transport mechanism of the camera 15 on the stage 31 is added, the control of the camera 15 is added to the data of the sequence operation order storage unit 1014 described in FIG. 5A and the transport mechanism standard operation amount storage unit 1026 described in FIG. This can be realized by adding and storing data relating to conveyance. By attaching a transport mechanism to such an image acquisition device, the setting of the image acquisition range at the time of image acquisition can be controlled by the stage 31 every time the image is acquired. Therefore, depending on the size of the target cultivation container and the size of the living body that is the target of image acquisition, an effect that enables image acquisition at an optimum position can be obtained, and the accuracy of analysis can be increased. Is obtained. The overall system configuration of the second embodiment may be the one shown in FIG.

(Example 3)
19A to 19C have basically the same configuration as that of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 18, but hold the cultivation container 13 on the assumption that the table 93 on which the cultivation container 13 is placed does not move. It is a figure explaining Example 3 made into the structure which has a drive part for cultivation container fixing means 94 itself to self-propel.

  FIG. 19A is a diagram illustrating a transport mechanism focusing on the cultivation container 13, the cultivation container fixing means 94, and the table 93 according to the third embodiment. Reference numeral 25 denotes a monorail, which is laid at the center on the surface of the table 93. The cultivation container fixing means 94 is guided by the monorail 25 in a state where the cultivation container 13 is placed, and maintains a certain posture, and the cultivation container 13 is carried by the power of the drive unit to carry the cultivation container 13.

FIG. 19B is a diagram illustrating details of an example of the cultivation container fixing means 94 of the third embodiment. The cultivation container fixing means 94 includes a carriage 37. When the cultivation container 13 is placed on the upper surface of the carriage 37, the carriage 37 is provided with a rising portion at the periphery so that the position relative to the carriage 37 is in a predetermined state, and thereby the cultivation container 13 is fixedly held. Shall. On the other hand, the carriage 37 includes a drive wheel 26 for self-propelled on the lower surface and a guide 27 for engaging with the monorail 25. Further, a drive motor 96 for rotating one of the drive wheels 26 is provided. As described in the first embodiment, the motor 96 is preferably configured to be able to control the transport amount, such as a pulse motor or a direct drive motor, that can instruct an operation amount. In addition, a carriage movement amount detection means 98 for detecting the amount of movement of the carriage 37 is attached to the other one of the drive wheels 26. This detecting means can be realized by a means for measuring the travel distance and speed used in automobiles and bicycles. The carriage movement amount detection means 98 for detecting the amount of movement of the carriage 37 by driving both the drive wheels 26 with the motor 96 may be attached to the shaft of the motor 96. Reference numeral 95 denotes a cart movement control unit, which receives a signal relating to the movement amount of the cart from the transport mechanism control unit 10 by wireless communication. Further, it is assumed that a signal related to the carriage movement amount detected by the carriage movement amount detection means 98 is transmitted to the data processing unit 102 by wireless communication. Although the power of the motor 96 is not shown, it is assumed that it is supplied by a battery mounted on a part of the carriage 37. FIG. 19C is a diagram illustrating details of an example of the carriage movement control unit 95 of the third embodiment. It is. The carriage movement control unit 95 includes a communication unit 97 with a control unit for controlling signal exchange between the transport mechanism control unit 10 and the data processing unit 102, and a control circuit unit receives a signal received from the transport mechanism control unit 10. This is sent to the drive motor 96 via 41. In addition, a signal related to the carriage movement amount detected by the carriage movement amount detection means 98 is sent to the data processing unit 102 via the control circuit unit 41. Although this communication can be performed by a wired system, it is desirable to realize the communication by a wireless communication system in order to avoid troubles due to bending of the cable being conveyed.

  The third embodiment is the same as the first and second embodiments described with reference to FIG. 3 except that the transport mechanism is a self-propelled carriage. Therefore, the overall system configuration of the third embodiment may be the one shown in FIG.

  Also in Example 3, therefore, the cultivation container 13 can be moved to an arbitrary position on the table 93 so that it can be guided by the monorail 25 and can face the camera 15 while maintaining a certain posture. That is, the transport operation can be performed while finely specifying the position of the transport operation. Furthermore, the conveyance amount can be controlled for each cultivation container, and an effect of realizing image acquisition when containers of various shapes and observed plants having different growth stages are installed on the same table can be obtained.

  20A and 20B are diagrams illustrating a specific example of the transport mechanism control according to the third embodiment. As described with reference to FIGS. 19A to 19C, in Example 3, the cultivation container 13 can be transported to an arbitrary position on the table 93. Therefore, it is necessary to detect the camera 15 so that it stops at a fixed position.

  FIG. 20A is a diagram illustrating a state in which plants to be observed in the cultivation container 13 having different growth stages in Example 3 are being conveyed on the table 93 in the direction of the arrow. This operation is performed for each cultivation container 13 according to the operation flow described in FIG. Further, a position detection mark 14 is attached to the cultivation container 13. Here, an area 35 surrounded by a one-dot chain line is a position correctly facing the camera 15 and means an area where an image can be acquired. While detecting the position of the position detection mark 14, the conveying operation is performed until the cultivation container 13 is correctly stopped in the area 35 where the image can be acquired.

  FIG. 20B is a diagram showing together the state in which the cultivation container 13 of interest is close to the area 35 where the image can be acquired and the subsequent control result from the state of FIG. 20A. In this example, when the cultivation container 13 appearing in FIG. 20A is being conveyed in the direction of the arrow at the same time, the position detection mark 14 indicates that the cultivation container 13 of interest has approached the area 35 where image acquisition is possible. When detected by the position detection, an example is shown in which the conveyance of the other cultivation container 13 is stopped and only the cultivation container 13 of interest is moved to the area 35 where the image can be acquired.

  If the cultivation container 13 of interest is transported in close contact with the other cultivation containers 13, the cultivation containers on both sides are in a state where only the cultivation container 13 of interest has reached the area 35 where image acquisition is possible. The cultivation containers 13 on both sides are moved so that 13 goes out of the image acquisition area 35. In this way, by performing the correction operation, only the cultivation container 13 of interest is stationary at the center of the area 35 where image acquisition is possible, so that adjacent plants do not move to the image during image acquisition. There is a possible effect. In order to simplify the control, it is preferable to schedule the conveyance so that a space is always left on the traveling direction side of the cultivation container 13 of interest. That is, in the example of FIG. 20B, when the image acquisition of the cultivation container 13 of interest is finished, the cultivation container 13 may be first transferred to the traveling direction side and then transported as a whole. .

  FIG. 21A and FIG. 21B are diagrams for explaining the transport operation according to Example 3 when the plant to be observed is grown in the same cultivation container 13 from a state close to a seedling to a state in which the growth has progressed. FIG. 21B shows a transport operation in a state where the plant to be observed is close to the seedling, and FIG. 21B shows a transport operation in a state in which the growth of the plant to be observed has advanced. The figure shows a state where the transfer table 93 is viewed from above. In FIG. 21A, the cultivation container 13 may be arranged on the table 93 closely. In FIG. 21B, the leaves of the plant to be observed are thickened and there is a possibility of inhibiting the growth of the plant in the adjacent cultivation container 13, so it is necessary to arrange them on the table 93 at an appropriate distance.

  In Example 3, since each cultivation container 13 can be moved independently, if it arranges by the number which considered the growth stage of the plant to be observed from the beginning, the cultivation container 13 will be reduced according to growth. Work that goes on is unnecessary. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 21B, when the cultivation container 13 faces the camera 15, as shown in FIG. 20B, it is sufficient if there is room for only one cultivation container 13 to enter the image acquisition region 35. It is possible to grow at high density.

  In Example 3, it is not necessary to consider that the plant body of the adjacent cultivation container 13 does not enter into the image acquisition area 35 from the beginning. In order to shorten the time required for image acquisition of all the cultivation containers 13 on the table 93, it is necessary to shorten the time required for conveyance. Therefore, the conveyance amount after the image acquisition by filling the cultivation containers 13 is reduced, and the conveyance time. It is effective to shorten As a result, as shown in FIG. 20B, when only the cultivation container 13 of interest is moved to the area 35 where the image can be acquired by detecting the position of the position detection mark 14, the plant in the adjacent cultivation container 13 is used. There is a possibility that a part of the body image is in the region 35.

  FIG. 22A is a diagram illustrating an example of acquiring an image in a state where a part of the image of the plant body of the adjacent cultivation container 13 enters the region 35. As shown on the left side of FIG. 22A, image acquisition is performed in a state where it has been detected that the position detection mark 14 of the cultivation container 13 of interest has a predetermined relationship with the region 35. As a result, as shown on the right side of FIG. 22A, the acquired image includes a part of the leafy plant body of the adjacent cultivation container 13.

  FIG. 22B is a diagram for explaining an example of a determination process for detecting a state in which a part of a planted leaf of adjacent cultivation containers 13 is included. By referring to the luminance value of the boundary portion of the acquired image shown on the right side of FIG. 22A, it is determined whether or not adjacent plants are included. As shown in the figure, the change in luminance value on the boundary is plotted for each of the x-axis and y-axis of the boundary portion of the acquired image. As a result, if there is no image element on the boundary, the luminance value is zero, and if there is an image element, the luminance value is above a certain level. Therefore, the threshold value for detecting the luminance value is determined as L, and when a luminance value exceeding L is detected, it is determined that a part of the planted leaf of the adjacent cultivation container 13 is included. If the detection of the luminance value is performed on both sides of the boundary portion of the acquired image, the conveyance of only the cultivation container 13 on the traveling direction side is advanced according to the determination result, or the cultivation on the opposite side to the traveling direction is performed. By transporting the container 13 in the opposite direction, or by controlling both transports, it is possible to acquire an image that does not include a part of the planted leaf of the adjacent cultivation container 13. As a result, it is possible to obtain an effect that a constant plant image can always be acquired while shortening the time required for conveyance, and to improve measurement accuracy in the shape measurement. Since the determination value for image detection depends on the environment such as the illumination condition for image acquisition, it is desirable to determine it in advance by a test operation. In this way, by performing image acquisition while determining adjacent plants, it is possible to obtain an effect of always obtaining an image of only the target plant.

  In any of the above-described embodiments, the ID for specifying the cultivation container 13 was not mentioned, but the shape was provided above or below the position detection mark 14 or left or right. The display for ID may be attached. If it does so, since the information regarding the cultivation container 13 can be acquired according to the information regarding a position mark, it is useful on management.

  As described above, images of growth changes in the growth process of plants are controlled with high accuracy from measurement errors caused by operation errors of the transport mechanism, and growth comparison and growth analysis are also achieved with high accuracy for a large number of plants. A system can be provided. Furthermore, it is possible to provide means for efficiently realizing growth analysis of the acquired growth images of a large number of plants.

  If the image acquisition device and the analysis method in the present invention enter the cultivation container of the image acquisition device, the growth change of living organisms other than plants and the change in the synthesis reaction of chemical substances are stored in the cultivation container, and the time-series shape It is also effective for analyzing changes. For example, an animal or human organ, blood vessel or cell is placed in a cultivation container, and an image of the state of growth is acquired by the image acquisition apparatus of the present invention. Applicable to analyzing shape change. Moreover, the change of the shape to generate | occur | produce in chemical synthesis reactions, such as a plastics, can be applied similarly.

It is a figure which shows the functional block of this invention system. It is the flowchart which showed the method of plant growth analysis using this invention system. It is a figure which shows the outline of one Example of this invention system. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an operation flow of an image acquisition device control unit according to the first embodiment. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an operation panel of the image acquisition device control unit 1 of Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of an image acquisition operation management unit 101 according to the first exemplary embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data table 1016 stored in a sequence operation order storage unit 1014 according to the first embodiment. FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a processing operation flow of an image acquisition operation management unit 101 according to the first exemplary embodiment. 6 is a diagram illustrating a processing flow of an operation of an imaging sequence according to the first exemplary embodiment. FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a processing flow of an image acquisition operation according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating configurations of a transport mechanism 9 and a transport mechanism operation amount detection unit 11 according to the first embodiment. It is the figure which looked at the ring table 12 which fixes the cultivation container 13 of Example 1 from the upper surface. It is a figure which takes out and shows the relationship between the ring table 12 and the cultivation container 13 of Example 1. FIG. It is a figure which takes out and shows the cultivation container 13 and the mark 14 for position detection of Example 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the image of the cultivation container 13 acquired in the state which attached the mark 14 for position detection of Example 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an image prepared as a template image according to the first embodiment. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a detection result of a position detection mark 14 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating functional blocks of a data processing unit 102 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a device movement amount data table obtained from the conveyance mechanism movement amount detection unit 11 according to the first embodiment. FIG. It is a figure shown about the center coordinate of the detected mark. It is a figure shown about the amount of displacement of the time series of the detected coordinate. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data table in a transport mechanism operation history temporary storage unit 1025 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data table of a transport mechanism standard operation amount storage unit 1026 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of data in an image information storage unit 106 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of data in an analysis result storage unit 3 according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the flow of the analysis process by the pseudo | simulation moving image display using the acquired image sequence of Example 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the functional block of the display control part 202 which implement | achieves performing the pseudo moving image of Example 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the flow about the detection of the front-end | tip part of the plant body of Example 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the graph display of the detection result of the growth front-end | tip part of the plant body by the process of FIG. 16A. It is a figure which shows the example which performed the growth rate comparison of the growth front-end | tip part of a plant body. It is a figure shown about the automatic check function processing flow of the installation state at the time of installation of a cultivation container as application operation | movement of the system of this invention. It is a figure which shows the schematic of the system of Example 2 which applied the apparatus of this invention to the big plant body. It is a figure which shows the conveyance mechanism which paid its attention to the cultivation container 13, the cultivation container fixing means 94, and the table 93 of Example 3. FIG. It is a figure which shows the detail of an example of the cultivation container fixing means 94 of Example 3. FIG. It is a figure which shows the detail of an example of the trolley | bogie movement control part 95 of Example 3. FIG. It is a figure which shows the state which is conveying the to-be-observed plant of the cultivation container 13 from which the growth stage of Example 3 differs in the arrow direction on the table 93. FIG. The region from which the image of the cultivation container 13 of interest can be acquired from the state of FIG. 20A It is a figure explaining conveyance operation in the state where the to-be-observed plant of Example 3 is near a seedling. It is a figure explaining conveyance operation in the state where the growth of the to-be-observed plant of Example 3 advanced. It is a figure which shows the example which acquires a part of image of the plant body of the adjacent cultivation container 13 of Example 3 in the area | region 35, and acquires an image in the state. It is a figure explaining an example of the determination process for detecting the state where a part of leaf which grew in the plant body of the adjacent cultivation container 13 of Example 3 is contained.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image acquisition apparatus control part, 2 ... Image analysis part for analyzing the mode of growth from the acquired image, 3 ... Memory | storage device which memorize | stores the result of analyzing growth, 4 ... In order to display the result of analyzing growth 5 ... an image reading device for storing the growth of the plant in the image, 6 ... a control device for controlling the operation of the image reading device, 7 ... an illumination light irradiation means for photographing, 8 ... an illumination light A control device for controlling the irradiation, 9 ... a transport mechanism for transporting the plant body, 10 ... a control device for controlling the transport mechanism, 11 ... a detecting means for detecting the operating state of the transport mechanism, 12 ... Ring table, 13 ... Cultivation container for cultivating plant body, 14 ... Position detection mark for detecting conveyance state, 20 ... Acquired image, 25 ... Monorail, 26 ... Drive wheel, 27 ... Guide, 30 ... Plant body 31 to cultivate Image reading unit moving stage, 35 ... image acquisition region, 37 ... bogie, 41 ... control circuit unit, 90 ... transport motor, 91 ... gear box, 92 ... shaft, 93 ... transport table, 94 ... fixing means for cultivation container 95 ... Dolly movement control unit, 96 ... Driving motor for cultivation container fixing means, 97 ... Antenna for communication means with conveyance mechanism control unit, 98 ... Dolly movement amount detection unit.

Claims (19)

A plurality of containers for growing an object to be observed with a mark for position detection attached to the side of the container;
Transport means for transporting the plurality of containers on a predetermined closed route while maintaining a predetermined positional relationship ;
An image acquisition means for outputting the object to be observed in the plurality of containers and the position detection mark as electronic image information;
Means for processing the image acquired by the image acquisition means;
First storage means for temporarily storing a processing result by the means for processing the image;
Based on the image of the position detection mark in the temporarily stored result and the template image corresponding to the position detection mark prepared in advance , the suitability of the transport amount of the container is evaluated. When it is determined as no, it comprises means for controlling the transport amount for correcting the position of the container,
The electronic image information of the object to be observed in the plurality of containers is acquired again by the image acquisition unit at the corrected container position, and the suitability of the acquired image information and the transport amount of the container is appropriate. A growth analysis system for an object to be observed, comprising: second storage means for storing image information when it is determined that. Comprising image acquisition means capable of outputting the operation state of the conveying means for conveying the plurality of containers as electronic image information;
Based on the image of the position detection mark as a result of image processing of the image acquired by the image acquisition means, and a template image corresponding to the position detection mark prepared in advance , the container transport means The growth analysis system for an object to be observed according to claim 1, further comprising means for evaluating the suitability of the operation and displaying a warning or a warning when it is judged as not.   The growth analysis system for a subject to be observed according to claim 1, further comprising means for sequentially displaying image information stored in the second storage means.   The observed object according to claim 1, wherein a displacement amount of a part of the plant is obtained from the image information of the image information stored in the second storage means, and the temporal change of the displacement amount is digitized and applied to the growth analysis of the plant. Body growth analysis system.   2. The transporting means for transporting the plurality of containers transports the containers on a rotation path, and makes the same container face the image acquisition means every rotation. A system for analyzing the growth of the subject.   6. The growth analysis system for an object to be observed according to claim 5, wherein the image acquisition unit acquires an image after a predetermined time has elapsed after the container is transported to a position facing the image acquisition unit. A plurality of containers for growing an object to be observed with a mark for position detection attached to the side of the container;
Transport means for transporting the plurality of containers on a predetermined closed route while maintaining a predetermined positional relationship ;
An image acquisition means for outputting the object to be observed in the plurality of containers and the position detection mark as electronic image information and having a variable relative position to the conveying means;
Means for processing the image acquired by the image acquisition means;
First storage means for temporarily storing a processing result by the means for processing the image;
Based on the image of the position detection mark in the temporarily stored result and the template image corresponding to the position detection mark prepared in advance , the suitability of the transport amount of the container is evaluated. When it is determined as no, it comprises means for controlling the transport amount for correcting the position of the container,
The electronic image information of the object to be observed in the plurality of containers is acquired again by the image acquisition unit at the corrected container position, and the suitability of the acquired image information and the transport amount of the container is appropriate. A growth analysis system for an object to be observed, comprising: second storage means for storing image information when it is determined that. Comprising image acquisition means capable of outputting the operation state of the conveying means for conveying the plurality of containers as electronic image information;
Based on the image of the position detection mark as a result of image processing of the image acquired by the image acquisition means, and a template image corresponding to the position detection mark prepared in advance , the container transport means The system for analyzing growth of an object to be observed according to claim 7, comprising means for evaluating whether or not the movement is appropriate and displaying a warning or a warning when it is determined to be no.   The growth analysis system for an object to be observed according to claim 7, further comprising means for sequentially displaying image information stored in the second storage means.   The observed object according to claim 7, wherein a displacement amount of a part of the plant is obtained from the image information of the image information stored in the second storage means, and a temporal change of the displacement amount is digitized and applied to the growth analysis of the plant. Body growth analysis system.   8. The transporting means for transporting the plurality of containers transports the containers on a rotation path, and makes the same container face the image acquisition means every rotation. A system for analyzing the growth of the subject.   The growth analysis system for an object to be observed according to claim 11, wherein the image acquisition unit acquires an image after a predetermined time has elapsed after the container is transported to a position facing the image acquisition unit. A plurality of containers for growing an object to be observed with a mark for position detection attached to the side of the container;
A plurality of conveying means for individually loading and conveying the plurality of containers and conveying on a predetermined closed route while maintaining a predetermined positional relationship ;
An image acquisition means for outputting the object to be observed in the plurality of containers and the position detection mark as electronic image information;
Means for processing the image acquired by the image acquisition means;
First storage means for temporarily storing a processing result by the means for processing the image;
Based on the image of the position detection mark in the temporarily stored result and the template image corresponding to the position detection mark prepared in advance , the suitability of the transport amount of the container is evaluated. When it is determined as no, it comprises means for controlling the transport amount for correcting the position of the container,
The electronic image information of the object to be observed in the plurality of containers is acquired again by the image acquisition unit at the corrected container position, and the suitability of the acquired image information and the transport amount of the container is appropriate. A growth analysis system for an object to be observed, comprising: second storage means for storing image information when it is determined that.   The plurality of transport means for self-propelled transport travel on a predetermined route by guide means provided on a plane, and the transport means are controlled by a transport control signal transmitted by a wireless system. The growth analysis system for an observed body according to claim 13.   15. The growth analysis of an object to be observed according to claim 14, wherein the guide means is configured to convey the container on a rotating track, and causes the same container to face the image acquisition means every rotation. system.   The growth analysis system for an object to be observed according to claim 15, wherein the image acquisition unit acquires an image after a predetermined time has elapsed after the container is transported to a position facing the image acquisition unit. Comprising image acquisition means capable of outputting the operation state of the conveying means for conveying the plurality of containers as electronic image information;
Based on the result of image processing of the image acquired by the image acquisition unit, the suitability of the operation of the container transfer unit is evaluated, and when it is determined to be no, a unit that displays or alerts to that effect is provided. The growth analysis system for an object to be observed according to claim 13.   14. The growth analysis system for an object to be observed according to claim 13, further comprising means for sequentially displaying image information stored in the second storage means.   The observed object according to claim 13, wherein a displacement amount of a part of the plant is obtained from among the image information of the image information stored in the second storage means, and a temporal change of the displacement amount is digitized and applied to the growth analysis of the plant. Body growth analysis system.

Images